The Adorkable Monster Pattern

The gauge on my finished monster is 5 st/inch across, and 7 st/inch high, although since it’s a toy, I imagine the gauge is not as important as if it were clothes.

I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes on my finished monster for the body, and Lion Brand Wool-Ease for the horns.

This pattern makes use of k2tog, kfb. kitchener stitch, short rows, and mattress stitch (in the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t block any of the monsters I knit, I don’t block toys in general). The whole monster is knitted in the round, every piece of him.

Begin by putting 8 stitches of each of the legs on two needles to graft using kitchener stitch or three needle bind off.
After finishing attaching the legs to one another, put the rest of the stitches on circular needles, putting the beginning of your rounds at the side of one of the legs.
Knit five inches in stockinette stitch. There’s going to be a gap where the legs meet on the front and back of the toy, so using duplicate stitch and whip stitch, close the gaps up. You can use just whip stitch, but using the duplicate stitches on the front and back facing porting of the gaps makes closing the gap more tidy.

break yarn and pull through stitches tightly, leaving a long tail for seaming

Horns: (make 2)

Cast on 16, and join in the round
Knit 6 rowsIf using magic loop, put the first and last 4 stitches on one needle, separating them with a stitch marker. The middle 8 stitches should be on the other needle. If using dpns, put the last 4 and first 4 on their own respective needles, the middle 8 should get their own.
k4, [k6, w&t 7th st; p4, w&t next st; k4, knit into wrap & stitch, wrap next stitch and turn; p5, purl into wrap & stitch, wrap next stitch and turn; k6, knit into wrap & stitch] finish row
knit 1 row (remember to knit into the wrap of the stitch we wrapped at the begining of the short row)
k6, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k5, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k4, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k3, k2tog, k2tog, k3
k1r
k2, k2tog, k2tog, k2
k1, k2tog, k2tog, k1
k2tog, k2tog
break yarn and pull through

Finishing:

Lightly stuff arms and then sew up the armholes (I used mattress stitch for neatness) and then sew onto sides of body, using mattress stitch.

Hi, I love your Adorkable Monster pattern, and I’m knitting it for my great grandson. Can you tell me what the kitchener stich is and also the three needle bind off. I have been knitting for over 70 years and have never seen this before. Thank you. Lillian

I was trying to explain the kitchener stitch to my mom the other day too, because she hadn’t heard of it, either (she’s been knitting for at least 50 years). When I told her how it was done, she knew what I was talking about because she uses it to finish the toes of socks and Christmas stockings. I had a hard time understanding how to do it with the photos on knitty.com, so I found this video that made it a lot easier for me. Hope it helps!

I used polyester stuffing I picked up at a Walmart. It was cheap. 🙂 I did find a stuffing at AC Moore that sort of holds together in tiny clumps, rather than one big mass, and I liked it. I’ll see if I can find it again.

I just have a quick question… I am making 3 of these for birthday presents for little ones in my family and have a very short period of time to get them done (along with 2 other knit projects for the same party). I made a pair of mittens once wherein a piece of waste yarn was used to knit a few stitches onto for the thumb. When the body of the mitten was finished, the waste yarn was removed, leaving double the amount of stitches knitted onto it (if 6 stitches were knitted onto the waste yarn, 12 remained when removing it). Do you think this would work for the arms here? I reallyreallyreallyreally hate the finish work and sewing pieces together and thought this might be a good way to avoid that. If you think it would work, any suggestions where in the 5 inches of the body to put them?

This is a really cute pattern that I’m enjoying making (now that I’m done with the legs anyway). Thanks so much for your help!

What you could do is just knit small cones and cut out the short rows, so instead of what’s there:
Cast on 16, and join in the round
Knit 6 rows
k6, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k5, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k4, k2tog, k2tog, k to end
k1r
k3, k2tog, k2tog, k3
k1r
k2, k2tog, k2tog, k2
k1, k2tog, k2tog, k1
k2tog, k2tog
break yarn and pull through

They won’t be true cones since I have all the decreases stacked on one side, but I’d love to see how it comes out if you go this way!